The Marine Corps is searching for airpower methods that can be used to blast a path for amphibious groups to steam through chokepoints at sea.
A new Request for Information submitted by Naval Air Systems Command on behalf of the Corps asks for analytical tools that can help the Future Attack/Strike, or FASt, initiative fulfill the chokepoint-busting mission.
The effort comes as the service is beginning to retire aging platforms, such as the AV-8B, AH-1Z and the F/A-18. FASt aims to replace them with next-generation systems like long-range missiles, MQ-58 Valkyrie combat drones, electronic warfare and other non-kinetic effects, according to the 2026 Marine Aviation Plan.
The Marine Corps is looking for an answer on how it could integrate these new capabilities into the its amphibious assault mission, which inevitably will involve operating in dangerous littoral waters and chokepoints.
The U.S. is already grappling with that problem in the Strait of Hormuz, where Iranian missiles, drones and swarms of fast-attack boats would jeopardize operations, such as seizing Kharg Island.
The Marine Corps wants tools that are good at “modeling complex operational scenarios, identifying vulnerabilities and capability gaps, and assessing the potential impact of new technologies, tactics, techniques, and procedures,” according to the RFI, which was published by Naval Air Systems Command on behalf of the Marine Corps. The deadline to respond is July 23.
More specifically, the Corps’ goal is to assess how airpower and long-range fires can “secure key maritime terrain” and ensure “passage through critical chokepoints while under threat.”
This includes intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance over sea and land, escorting transport aircraft, offensive air support for troops ashore, safe passage for military and commercial shipping and “kinetic and non-kinetic strikes against difficult-to-locate, mobile, and hardened ground-based threats, such as anti-ship cruise missile (ASCM) batteries and air defense systems.”
Analytical tools should also address gaps in the defense of Amphibious Ready Groups and Marine Expeditionary Units. This includes attacks by drone swarms, manned fast-attack boats and unmanned surface vessels and underwater craft.
Significantly, the Marine Corps is dealing with the possibility that it will have to project “power from land- or sea-based assets into a contested area where manned aviation is denied or severely restricted due to sophisticated Integrated Air Defense Systems (IADS),” according to the RFI.
This means tools must be able to analyze and model “long-range, autonomous, and semi-autonomous kinetic and non-kinetic weapon systems.”
It should also look at “capabilities that enable the joint kill web, from target detection and identification to battle damage assessment.”
And, these tools should asses the logistics and command-and-control infrastructure “required to sustain such operations over extended periods.”
The Marine Corps says it is willing to work with “major [defense] primes, small businesses, and non-traditional vendors in the future to ensure diverse solution ideas.”
It is looking to complete the work by the end of fiscal 2027.
Michael Peck is a correspondent for Defense News and a columnist for the Center for European Policy Analysis. He holds an M.A. in political science from Rutgers University. Find him on X at @Mipeck1. His email is [email protected].
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